The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-05-25
C0L0RADA'S TOUGH HOLE
Jul ,ESBURG AS 1T WAS TWENTY
YEARS AGO.
How Vice, Debauchery and Lawless-
ness Held Nightly Passing
Sentence Behind Two Revolvers.

How Vice, Debauchery and Lawless-
ness Held Nightly Carnival-Passing
Sentence Behind Two Revolvers.
From the Omaha Bee.
1t was about the toughest place in exist
ence
This expression fell from the lips of the
! ex- Mayor and Police Judge Of Julesburg,
Col, Col. Edmund Bartlett, the other night.
He was discussing with a reporter for the
Bee that erstwhile fourishing city of the
| Western frontier He was indulging in
some interesting "reminiscences of the now
deserted village" and the time he referred
to was when Julesburg was the western
terminus of the Union Pacific. To-day
JueSburg is nowhere; its relic is now
Denver junction. Where twenty years ago
there was a Aourishing town of G,000 inhab-
itants there are to-day but few struggling
| huts add houses
! At the time when Mr.. Bartlett was the
combined Mayor and Police Judge of the
| place, it is hardly to be questioned that
Juesburg was, to use his own expression,
''the toughest hole in creation" Nine
! tenths Of the population would corrupt the
morals of the worst pirate ship ahoat. 1t
| vas q community VI biAiSfSS1
MURDERERs, CUT-THRoATs, GAMBLERS
and prosttutes-in short the riff-raff of hui
manity. Dance halls, gambling houses and
brothels were the principal places of amuse-
ment and resort, and oumumbered the le
! ultimate business houses three to one. Every
night on the streets of this city could be
heard the sweet notes of the pistol"-the
| shrek of some dying victim, the hollow
| laugh of the painted harlot, the coarse jest
o Il
fan or the murderer. Crime and villainy
held nightly carnival there. The annals of
the town were one sickening repetition of
| vice and horror, to recount which would
| fill volumes. 1t was in short the Inferno"
of Dantes, reproduced on earth.
Such was Julesburg at the time referred
to by Col. Bartlett.
THE JUDGE WAS ARMED, TOO.
One interesting Renaissance by Mr. Bart
lett related to the trial of two toughs,
Shorty" and Jack Hayes, who came down
to Julesburg from Cheyenne. They an
nounced when they landed in the former
place that they would run the town. They
| galloped through the streets, yelling, ours
ing and firing revolvers at the bystanders,
without regard for age or sex. The police
arrested them, and they were brought be-
fore Judge Bartlett for trial. On this oc-
| casion the court room was packed with
of the two prisoners, together with a Nrge
body of citizen vigilantes, who were deter
mined to see that justice was done to the
Cheyenne t1ughs Both sides were armed
for desperate work. Probably in that little
cabin which served as q court house there
were no less than 200 revolvers. The friends
of the prisoners openly boosted that
THEY WOULD KILL THE JUDGE
| if he dared to sentence the culprits
4l,.. 10, e
guilty. The Judge rose promptly in his seat
and leaned slightly over his desk, cooked
revolver in each hand. Gentlemen he
said, II have heard your threats and |
understand your intentions. If you are dis
posed to resist the execution of my sentence,
the best time is now and the best place is
| here. | want to say that there is plenty of
room in these sand hills to bury every man
of you. / shall sentence each of these men
to pay fine of $3.50"
There was not word said, and the two
men were taken back to Jail under strong
guard. They were released after their
friends had paid the aggregate fine of $500
A DESPERATE ENCOUNTER.
Another incident recalled by the ex-
Police Judge of this wicked City of the
Plains' serves to show in what constant
danger of their lives were the policemen
who did duty in Julesburg. One day wild
and woolly cowboy rode into town and COM
menced behaving himself i'll a manner any
thing but peaceable A policeman named
Roadpouch approached him and was about
to place him in custody, when the fellow
turned on him and sneeringly said:
You'll arrest me, will youF at the
same time drawing his revolver
and firing Roadpouch fell to the
ground in such a manner that he could not
get his revolver, and lay there PROSTATE
and helpless. Meanwhile the cowardly ruff
fan continued firing at the policeman until
he had put seven bullets in his body. For
tunately none of them proved fatal, and
Roadpouch jumped to his feet, dashed after
the fleeing cowboy, and fired just one shot
at him. The ruffian fell dead. Road
pouch was taken to the hospital,
and after two months of careful nurs-
ing recovered. The history of the town was
fraught with such incidents as this, which
We're of almost daily occurrence
THE POLICE FORCE.
The police force of Julesburg, which was
under the direct supervision of the Police
Judge, was, it is safe to say, one of the best
maintained in any Western city. 1t was
composed of twenty-five men, brave, trust
worthy and true. They were well paid, re-
ceiving $l25 per month Their salaries,
however, were not at all out of proportion
to the difficulty and danger which attended
the performance of their daily work. The
cost OF MAINTAINING the force was defrayed
by the heavy fines imposed by the Police
Judge on the prisoners who were brought
before him.
| THE JAIL WAS SAFE.
The Jail in which these prisoners We're
kept was both secure and insecure. ANY
prisoner could burrow his way out of it.
but to expose his person in such an attempt
meant instant and certain death The Jail
was about 30 feet or 10 feet square, built of
pine timberS driven down into the sand
closely together, and boarded on top. In
this the prisoners were kept. A man could
easily dig his way out under these boards,
but very few ever attempted it, At each
corner of the Jail a guard was placed, armed
with Winchester rifle. These men had in
structions to
SHOOT THE FIRST PRISONER
who poked his head above the sand. One
or two men were killed in this way, and the
criminal population of Julesburg became
convinced that its Jail was practically as Sc
cure as the "Bastile" of France or the
"Tombsn of New York city.
Most of the lawlessness with which the
police of Julesburg were called upon to deal
! arose from Quarrels in the gambling halls